How to install VM on Mint 20.3

[Megapixelus]

So... i can see its so much questions about, but no tutorial, or just terminal commands to paste.
I also tried to install VM....but i have problem. And then great idea: im sure someone on forum had same problem before!

Nope... its smth new (only 32bits windows in vm). So i wanted to made it right, but cant find any step by step info.
The funny part is....i need that, to install win app to learn about linux

[RIH]

Which VM are you trying to install & from where??

[GELvdH]

I have the same problem, I tried to setup a VM using Boxes flatpak which comes with LM 20.3 and also VMachine from Oracle. Neither seems to have any instructions on setting up both the host or the VM.

[smurphos]

Oracle provide a manual ... https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/

[GELvdH]

Thanks Smurphos, the problem I see with that manual is that I am in my mid 80's and I don't think I have enough time left to digest that tome.
I think I will try to figure the "Boxes" VM out. Maybe someone will answer my post under VM posting.

[smurphos]

Here's the online help for Boxes - https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-boxes/stable/

[GELvdH]

Thanks again, got it going.

[GELvdH]

OK, installed VM on two of my systems, tried to install on my oldest one and got the following error message.
AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS (or by the host OS) (VERR_SVM_DISABLED).

Could not find any reference to AMD-V in the Bios, Does LM have some sort of VM setting which has to be enabled?

[smurphos]

Nope, it doesn't. Depending on how old is old is quite possible that your hardware may not support virtualization. If it does but is disabled in BIOS in might be called something else, like VT-x or SVM

[GELvdH]

OK, got my system to being able to recognize VM setup. When I go to Download VirtualBox I come to a point where it says to replace an item with one of several possibilities,

Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list. According to your distribution, replace '<mydist>' with 'eoan', 'bionic', 'xenial', 'buster', 'stretch', or 'jessie' (older versions of VirtualBox supported different distributions):

deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian <mydist> contrib

Which of those replacement possibilities do I use?

[smurphos]

For 20.x it is actually focal, not listed on their instructions but it does exist. It's the codename of the underlying Ubuntu release that Mint is based on.

[GELvdH]

Thanks, in the meantime I used Boxes to create a VM and it is working fine for me so I don't know if I need to go through all of the technical stuff for VirtualMachine. Again, Thanks Smurphos.

[Reddog1]

Not the right place to download VirtualBox. This is directly from Oracle (do not use a distribution repackage--go directly to the source because the repos are behind the direct-from-Oracle version)

https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/t ... loads.html

For Mint choose Ubuntu 20.04

Also download the VirtualBox Extension Pack

https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/t ... ml#extpack

Both must be installed on the host machine. Open VBManager and choose 'New'. Give your new VM a name. From the dropdown choose the linux distro you are using (or the generic Linux 64 bit--or 32 bit or Windows or BSD, whatever you are installing). Memory size choose 2GB or 4GB or whatever (half your installed memory GB is fine). Create a Virtual Hard Disk, Choose VDI, Dynamically Allocated. Move the slider to make at least 20GB of space for a Linux VM and you are all done with the first part. In VB Manager Open Settings, then Display and drag the gpu Memory slider all the way to the right. Check box for 3D. OK and Start your VM. The screen will ask for the file to boot from--navigate to where you put your linux.iso file and choose it and start the install, which will be a normal one. You are mostly done. With some distributions you will need to install Guest Additions after your vm is up and running (it's in the 'Device' section of the top bar)--some distributions install Guest Additions automagically.

32-bit systems can be installed in a normal VM on a 64 bit machine.

[smurphos]

Not the right place to download VirtualBox.

Yes it is - these are the repos managed by Oracle.

https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian focal contrib

[Reddog1]

Not the right place for a newbie. That can confuse even me, and I've been doing this since the 1998. It's a matter of K.I.S.S.

[GELvdH]

Or an oldbe, even though I have been doing computer and electronics for 60 years and learning half dozen operating systems, I have arrived at a time in my life where I want to have instructions in SIMPLE words not geekology.

[Cosmo.]

In simple words: Take the version from the official repositories. It is currently 1 sub-version back, but usually a user does not even notice the difference.

A few days ago I wrote a post about the needed packages: viewtopic.php?p=2175038#p2175038

[GELvdH]

After all of the helpful posts I have decided that I will stick with Boxes. For the limited amount of usage I will have, for instance some apt that is only available as a Win program and there is no Linux equivalent. Thank you all.

[smurphos]

Not the right place for a newbie. That can confuse even me, and I've been doing this since the 1998. It's a matter of K.I.S.S.

It's adding an official third party repo to your sources as per the instructions here - https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads so you get timely updates for your third party application - not rocket science, and good security practice. It's unfortunate that Oracle's instructions aren't more explicit on the repo names for current releases.

In simple words: Take the version from the official repositories. It is currently 1 sub-version back

And has at times been many versions back, and often very slow to update the Ubuntu repo version when a bump is needed for current HWE or HWE-Edge kernel compatibility, hence broken for a subset of users.

I'd class Virtualbox (or any virtualisation software) as a security sensitive application - and it has it's fair share of (albeit normally very unexciting CVE's) - https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerabilit ... albox.html

So if it's on my system I want the current version, and I want to be notified of updates at they become available - hence personally won't use the Ubuntu repo version because updates have historically been very spotty, and occasionally it's broken for supported kernel series.

Neither do I think it's good advice to a new user to simply install the current deb from Oracle and thus (probably) never update it.

[Cosmo.]

Neither do I think it's good advice to a new user to simply install the current deb from Oracle and thus (probably) never update it.

This has always to be judged from the current state, and current states do change with time and following that advises change. VB 6.1.32 (the current version in the official repos) isn't really something, which one can describe with "(probably) never updated".

As said, it is a matter of the current situation and if a user like GELvdH complains about "geekology", than there is no mandatory reason to add the Oracle ppa.

For your information: My computer runs with the current kernel version of the 5.15 series (I am forced to it because of the hardware) and you can believe me, I have not the smallest problem with VB 6.1.32; otherwise my previous post would have not been written.